A dark academia ghost story set largely in Cambridge in 2001 onwards. Returning to the college he studied at the unnamed narrator, now a music teacher, is here to be a judge for a music scholarship set up in memory of his friend Bryn Cavendish. The narrator is from a northern working class background and won a scholarship himself. Most of the other students are from wealthy backgrounds, including Bryn. Really well written although I did find it a bit of slow burn, but definitely worth the wait.

Briefly, feeling very much an outsider he does make friends with some others who are not part of the ‘in crowd’. But then he gradually becomes part of Bryn’s crowd and leaves his other friends behind. However, his friendship with Bryn is not a healthy one, he is obsessed with both Bryn and later Bryn’s girlfriend Alexa. Bryn has followed in his father’s footsteps and is a skilful magician, but his magic is often at the expense of his friends and is dark and mysterious rather than entertaining.

The is it or isn’t it man-made magic or something more supernatural is done really well. The two main characters are well fleshed. Bryn is a spoiled, wealthy, manipulative boy who expects to get whatever he wants with no care at all for who he hurts; this is clearly, in part, related to his upbringing, particularly his father. The narrator also has father issues, he has an inferiority complex that makes him willing to put up with all kinds of unacceptable treatment. A ghostly, dark academia novel with a nod to the occult and some interesting musical elements and composers (Peter Warlock was a name I didn’t know and I’ve since researched). A compelling and engaging read.

The Secret History meets Saltburn and In My Dreams I Hold a Knife.

An unnamed narrator feels out of his depth studying music at Cambridge amidst people moving in a whole other world - separated by class, connection, and finesse.
He becomes entranced by Bryn, the centre of everyone’s life at their college. Our narrator falls into their group, entangling himself in Bryn’s life, cherishing every intimate moment as he neglects other aspects of his life (education, friendship, morality).

However, Bryn’s obsession with magic and deception and identity creates a foreboding sense that something will unravel. Something dark creeping up on our narrator that he has ignored whilst being on Bryn’s good side.

This carried a feeling of jittery danger. Our narrator creates an unnerving equilibrium: feeling inexplicably and inexpressibly unsettled by Bryn while never wanting to leave his side.

The writing was beautiful. It reminded me of The Secret History, where the prose is as enchanting as the story.

<b>'Do you think a person can ever really be happy, being The Lover?'
I shrugged. 'I presume most Lovers don't realise that's what they are. And maybe it's worse to be The Loved, knowing that you don't feel that intense passion that you're supposed to feel. Yeah, The Loved get all the adoration, but they get the guilt too?’
‘I guess both The Lover and The Loved can be happy so long as they can persuade themselves there's no such thing.’
</b>
The acts were not as diabolical as TSH or Saltburn.
I did like how you are forced to decide on how representation and interpretation changes the tone of a story. How a retelling can render things different to different people.

<b>Some people say were our true selves when we think nobody is watching. But how do we know our own identities without others confiming gaze? If, like the tree falling in the proverbial wood, nobody is around to hear us, is our story a story at all?
</b>
Perhaps some of the suspense and thrill was taken away as this was told from our narrator reflecting back as an adult.

The ending similarly felt lack lustre and I think we also lacked sufficient explanation of our narrator’s current life apart from judging on a music panel which is what brought him back to Cambridge.

It was four stars until the ending!⭐️🥺

Thank you to 4th Estate for sending me a physical arc in exchange for a review.

This was such a delicious read to dive into - atmospheric, mysterious, exciting but dark, comfortably nostalgic but unnerving. The slow change in our protagonist as he is drawn to and influenced by the magnetic Bryn among the walls of Cambridge University is something I couldn't look away from. The reader is constantly asking themselves what Bryn is doing, and how, and then these questions circle round to whether he's really doing anything at all, and then back again into the loop from the very beginning. The ending is satisfying in that it does bring us to a point where we can learn many of these things, but like the nature of the story and its characters, there's something ephemeral on every page. This is a story whose atmosphere will follow you in the real world - especially, I imagine, if you happen to be in Cambridge or in a traditionally academic setting such as the university.

I loved this dark book set in Cambridge University- exploring privilege and friendship, obsession and power. I swept through this book, almost peaking through my fingers at what would happen next- the menacing undertones really pull you in! Very well written.

And He Shall Appear by Kate van der Borgh definitely brings the dark to dark academia, this is a disturbing tale of obsession, revenge and the fallibility of memory. Though not always pleasant reading it is certainly mesmerising, drawing the reader in to a story that manages to be both believable and terrifying at the same time.
A young and naive music student from a humble background finds himself in Cambridge where he quickly falls under the literal spell of fellow student Bryn Cavendish. Bryn is everything that he is not, worldly, charming and from the right background. He has a wide social circle and loves to party, often entertaining the revellers with magic tricks that sometimes have a sinister edge, especially if he feels that he has been betrayed. When Bryn turns on our unnamed narrator, he starts to reevaluate the supposed friendship, and begins to wonder if there is something sinister behind the power and influence that Bryn uses to get his way, a question that the reader will also have to ponder as the book unfolds.
This book had an almost claustrophobic feel , I felt like I was trapped inside it. The characters were unlikeable yet still I was caught up in their story and as that story unfolded there were moments I found genuinely unsettling and creepy. The exploration of class and privilege was excellent and I thing that those who are looking for a book that will leave them a little on edge will find just what they are looking for here.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I hate to DNF an arc, something I almost never do, but I just can’t read any more..

It’s really not for me. The pacing is too slow, and the chapters too long. I’m 25% in and nothing of note has happened yet and more importantly I haven’t connected with any of the characters. I understand the author has likely made a deliberate choice to portray the characters in the way they have, but I need to feel something for someone to make it worth my while, even if it’s to hate them!

The narrator is incredibly boring and it feels very much like the beginning of Saltburn (which I also didn’t like). I guess that should have given me a clue before I even began but I do like dark academia and stories of dark obsession so thought this might be a good read, sadly it just didn’t work for me. This book does have lots of 5 star and positive reviews though so likely just not the right fit for me as opposed to being a bad book.

was drawn to this on #netgalley as it was blurbed to be a campus, dark academia novel. Perhaps I should have read that blurb better, as it‘s also about magic, which I‘m not a fan of.

It‘s the same-old story of a student from a poor background trying to fit in with the rich kids at Cambridge.

It would have been a so-so but the ending lifted it to a light pick.

Kate van Der Borgh has crafted a beautiful slice of dark academia with And He Shall Appear, which evokes such works as The Secret History by Donna Tartt. The story is always engaging and whips along at a fair pace. I really enjoyed my time with this one.
Thank you to the publishers for the ARC.

3.5 sstars rounded up

This story is about a young musician from a working class background who attends Cambridge University and he tries to befriend a group of entitled, wealthy students. He becomes obsessed with Bryn whose father had been a magician and had dabbled with the occult.

The pace is slow to begin with, but it soon picks up. We get descriptions of life at Cambridge University. It's quite spooky and has some creepy goings on. Bryn is into black magic. We also have an unnamed narrator who is obsessed with Bryn. The story has a dual timeline. I did find myself questioning some things, and I liked the music references.

Published 16th January 2025

I would like to thank #NetGalley #4thEstateWilliamCollins and the author #KateVanDerBerg for my ARC of #AndHeShallAppear in exchange of an honest review.

This is not my usual genre but I'm trying to expand my options. The nameless narrator of this book, comprehensive educated, arrives at Cambridge feeling that he really doesn't fit. He's lacking the necessary 'cultural capital' needed to thrive. He becomes besotted and mesmerised by Bryn Cavendish, leader of an elite clique and also a magician. This book is very reminiscent of The Secret History, it being a very dark and unsettling tale. I'm not sure I can say that I enjoyed reading this book mainly to the genre I think. Thanks to Netgalley though for giving me the chance to read and review it.

A little spooky, and unsettling. Great storyline and I was absorbed all the way through. Little twist at the ending. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy

I read this on the plane coming over to the US for Christmas, and remember little of its details now, apart from the twist ending being incredibly sad. As dark academia goes, I'd say this is on the higher-quality end of the spectrum, although there are a lot of very familiar beats and plot devices (so much so that, having written a book almost exactly like it, I found myself faintly embarrassed by my own predictability): music, Oxbridge, sexually confused young men, charismatic young men, the allure of power and wealth, power and wealth's disregard for those who worship it. It's well written, though, and it asks questions about why we find these sorts of stories compelling—what that says about us.

I’m sorry to say this book was not for me. The characters were not relatable and made it very difficult to engage.

I received an ARC through #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The unnamed narrator arrives in Cambridge as a first-year student and complete outsider. Then he falls under the spell of Bryn Cavendish.

Hauntingly beautiful debut novel, so incredibly layered and intriguing. It just captures you from the very beginning and holds you all the way through. The storytelling was so powerfully interesting, and it had me questioning everything so many times. There was something so mesmerizing, yet so unsettling in the best way possible. I truly can’t even properly put into words how it made me feel, but I absolutely loved it. There’s so many interesting themes and dynamics, and it’s just so incredibly easy to get invested in the story and so incredibly hard to put this down. The characters were so interesting as well, and I never knew what to expect from them. I loved all the musical references and metaphors throughout the story. I know I will keep thinking about this for a long time, and I genuinely believe it’s one of those books I will keep coming back to through the years.

Many thanks to 4th Estate and William Collins & NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Although I DNF'd this book, I thought I'd share my brief thoughts on it and why I abandoned it. And He Shall Appear is a dark academia story told by an unnamed narrator who is shy and unsure of himself when he enrolls at a prestigious university to study music. There, he becomes entranced by the enigmatic Bryn and his band of loyal followers. I mean friends. The story progresses as our narrator recounts his time with Bryn, often in a long and meandering way. Laced with themes of dark magic and the occult, this book won't be for everybody but that's not what turned me off. The chapterless, nameless style of And He Shall Appear made me feel really disconnected from the story, and if I wasn't onboard at 44%, I knew my time could be better used elsewhere. I'm a big fan of The Secret History, which others have likened this one to, but it simply didn't work for me.

This is a campus novel with a deep, dark core, told from the viewpoint of an unreliable adult narrator who frames himself as the protagonist. In highly idealised fashion, he recalls his memories at Cambridge University, where he had fought hard for his place to read music at Cambridge. Not a day went by that he did not come across the concessions and advantages afforded to his peers from more privileged backgrounds. None, however, was more privileged that Bryn Cavendish. The protagonist recalls his increasingly frenzied attempts to emulate Bryn by dating his cousin, adopting the drinking culture, and neglecting his studies. In hindsight, it is clear that he was gradually being drawn into a maelstrom of risky unhealthy behaviours, and these end in Bryn’s death ….
With its supernatural and psychological elements, I found this campus novel hugely compelling, but one thing irritated me: the unreliable narrator’s namelessness which stands in stark contrast the to the nuanced, convincing depiction of his exploits at Cambridge. However, I wish to thank NetGalley and Fourth Estate for the ARC that allowed me to read this unusual debut novel.

For fans of The Secret History!
Atmospheric with seamless writing, I didn't want to put this down once I had started

Having heard this book being compared to Saltburn, I was so intrigued as I loved the film – and I'm so pleased to say that I was not disappointed! The writing in this book is phenomenal, and I lost count of the amount of times I highlighted passages on my kindle that I found meaningful or particularly interesting.
I would agree that it shares similar themes to Saltburn (and it also reminded me of a favourite book of mine, The Things we do to our Friends by Heather Darwent): it's a dark academia, and it focuses on obsession, toxic friendships, and is told through (what I think was) an unreliable narrator (which I LOVE because it adds another layer to the narrative to think about). I absolutely loved the elements of illusion, magic and the occult brought in here, and there were a few chapters that really made the hairs on my arms stand on end from the uneasy and dread-filled atmosphere conjured in this book. Overall, I am so glad I read this – it's made me want to read more dark academia – and I could definitely see myself rereading it in future!

We meet the charismatic Bryn in the first few days of being an undergraduate at Cambridge university through the unnamed narrator whose obsession with Bryn and his magic tricks is the focal point of the story. I actually enjoyed the unfolding of the story and the nuances the narrator didn’t seem to pick up on. There are some quite deep philosophical thoughts explored, which I found myself thinking about after I had put the book down. I liked the double timelines of now and then, looking back at who you were and the choices you make as a naive 18 year old is always interesting.

“A deeply unsettling story of obsessive friendship, dark magic and the ways in which we mythologise our past.”



This first sentence in the blurb says it all. It just leaves out that it is told in a very boring way.



The unnamed and very uninteresting main character comes to Cambridge to study music. Immediately he falls for the most glamorous guy in college and worms his way into his life. Unfortunately, the glamorous guy is a prick because these guys always are. So far, this dark academia story is not very witty and inventive. And it stays that way. There are a few chapters where we see our nameless guy in the present, revisiting the college. But these chapters come without a warning so I got confused where in the story I was almost every time.



I love dark academia but this book adds nothing new to the genre. It is boring and so very slow. The characters lack personality and nothing happens most of the time. Our narrator is of course unreliable and idealizes his relationship with his “friends”. He never evolved from this time and as an adult is still stuck with his memories. The thing with the magic tricks is ridiculous and I wonder if really all campus was hypnotized by this guy. It is not spooky or captivating and I had to force my way through this book.



I have to say that this was not my cup of tea.